CANADA: Recently, scientists found the largest site of dinosaur fossils in Scotland — the Isle of Skye — and it contains Middle Jurassic footprints and handprints, with the biggest measuring up to about 28 inches (70 centimeters) in diameter.
Study lead author Dr. Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh said the site is one of the most amazing discoveries ever made in the country.
The footprints belong to sauropods, which are plant-eating dinosaurs that lived some 170 million years ago.
Sauropods have long necks and tails, with legs that resemble pillars. These dinosaurs are well known for their large physique. The sauropods that lived in the Isle of Skye have not yet been clearly characterized but according to Brusatte, the settlers are estimated to have weighed about 15-20 tons and stood 50 feet.
The researchers studied the footprints and discovered that dinosaurs were closely related to the more popular brontosaurus gebnus and diplodocus genus.
In the past, the sauropod was believed to have settled in swamps due to the species’ apparent inability to support its weight on land. In the 1970s, however, that hypothesis was refuted when scientists realized that the species was well-adapted to land living as manifested by its skeletal structure.
